


Exceptions to the Rule

by boho_writer



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s03e02 The Sign of Three, Episode: s04e02 The Lying Detective, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, POV Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes & John Watson Friendship, Sherlock Holmes Has Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 17:09:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9281606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boho_writer/pseuds/boho_writer
Summary: "As a rule, Sherlock Holmes did not hug.But Sherlock knew for every rule, there were always exceptions."Follow-up to The Scene (you know the one) in The Lying Detective, because Sherlock's hug sure looks familiar...





	

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't my favorite work. In fact, I didn't want to touch The Hug Scene at all because it was perfect, and the works I'd read on here were fantastic. But I had to do it...because after viewing "The Lying Detective" for the (redacted)th time, I noticed the way Sherlock hugs John is exactly the same as how John hugged Sherlock at the wedding.
> 
> (Because I'm not clever enough to insert images...compare The Sign of Three: https://goo.gl/images/auGP5B and The Lying Detective (16 second mark): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZNQsscjdTg )
> 
> So this story became a way to address that. If you want to take that idea and run with it, please do...because I've read some amazing TLD works already and I'd like to see someone else have a go with this.
> 
> Onward to Sunday night, friends...

As a rule, Sherlock Holmes did not hug.

But Sherlock knew for every rule, there were always exceptions. Much of The Work depended on awareness to deviations of the norm, after all. In this case, Sherlock's parents were exceptions, because he saw them so rarely (and he _did_ love them, though he wouldn't say), as well as Mrs. Hudson. Admittedly, he would not instigate physical contact, but he allowed it much more willingly than people would expect.

Sometimes clients would hug him, and that was typically uncomfortable. Children, like Archie, because they didn't know better. Graham (Gavin? Giles? _Lestrade_ ) once after he'd returned from the dead.

_Never_  Mycroft.

Oh, Mary hugged him, and Sherlock returned the embrace willingly...but no, he couldn't think of that right now, not at this moment, not with John breaking down in front of him.

And John?

They'd hugged once, only once, and it'd been a surprise. Sherlock was just on the brink of ruining the best man's speech, and then he'd said something about John's proximity to both Mary and himself, and it'd turned on the waterworks for nearly everyone in the room. 

(He _still_  didn't understand what he'd done to cause that. Just moments before they'd been appalled by his criticisms towards love and beauty and all the things boring people found nice, but John had assured him that no, he'd _not_  ruined it, and then--)

John had hugged him unexpectedly: one hand on his neck, and the other on his shoulder, and he'd pulled Sherlock down a bit to account for their height difference, and he'd held Sherlock, briefly.

Sherlock had not had time to think, really, because it had happened so fast and _didn't John realize he wasn't done yet?_  and then everyone was clapping. 

(Why did people change emotions on a dime? Even John, who just recently seemed pleased that The Woman was still alive and a potential mate for Sherlock--by John's standards, anyway--and then switched to almost-yelling in the same sentence.)

But the wedding hug _had_  happened, and then there'd been a near murder, and after that he'd accidentally deduced Mary's pregnancy. While in other scenarios being hugged by his best friend for no apparent reason would be worth analyzing further, Sherlock admittedly became distracted by a rather full day.

He'd apparently logged it in the Mind Palace, though, because standing in front of John now, it was instinct to imitate the action. People touched each other the way they wanted to be touched. So for John...a hand round the back of the neck. Another hand on the shoulder. Bring in close. Adjust head to account for the height difference, made much more evident at such a close proximity.

And _hold._

John didn't hug back but that was okay, because Sherlock hadn't hugged back the first time either. Different reasons, of course: Sherlock had simply been confused by the room's shifting atmosphere, while John was currently dealing with a breakdown.

And that was okay. So Sherlock said it was.

"It's okay."

John disagreed, _it's not okay_ , and Sherlock considered that outside of this particular moment, John was correct. Rarely was it all ever "okay." It was something of an obvious statement, really, for which John was famous and which Sherlock _hated,_  but he didn't state that because people didn't argue when they hugged, usually.

Instead, he held position ( _hand on neck, hand on shoulder, keep head adjusted down for height difference, hold_ ) because John wasn't moving away like before. This meant the embrace lasted longer than what Sherlock would have with his parents or Mrs. Hudson or Mary.

But that was okay, too. Because even though Sherlock Holmes didn't hug, as a rule, there were always exceptions. And the exceptions made things--people, _life_ \--unpredictable and confusing at times. 

But it was what it was.

And what it was, was okay.


End file.
